There was an Emmy shake up in the world of reality television on Wednesday morning, with “Summer House” bringing home its first nomination and “Dancing With the Stars” returning to the competition series, er, competition for the first time in a decade, knocking out the former perennial winner “The Amazing Race.” Ariana Madix, the “Love Island USA” host, also made her way onto the Emmy nomination list for the first time. In other unscripted categories, the Emmys gave Taylor Swift a wedding present. Here’s everything you need to know.
See the full list of nominees for the 2026 Emmy Awards.
‘Summer House’ gets its first nod
The Bravo series, which follows a group of New Yorkers as they party, fight and hook up in the Hamptons, has been running for 10 years and has maintained a loyal audience. But this year the speculation and then confirmation of a bombshell romantic relationship between Amanda Batula and West Wilson broke containment, leading to increased viewership, big-screen showings, seemingly constant headlines. Now it has gotten the attention of the Television Academy.
Even by the standards of a series that runs on drama, the Batula-Wilson hookup was juicy. Batula had been recently separated from her husband, Kyle Cooke, who is also on the show, and Wilson had previously dated Batula’s close friend Ciara Miller. The scandal and subsequent nomination in the unstructured reality program category mirrors a similar situation in 2023, when “Vanderpump Rules,” another Bravo show, earned its first Emmy nomination after its cheating scandal, called “Scandoval,” became a mainstream topic of conversation dissected by outlets including CNN and Time.
“Summer House” will compete against “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders,” “Love on the Spectrum,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked” and “Welcome to Wrexham.”
Ariana Madix brings ‘Love Island USA’ into the mix
Madix was at the center of Scandoval — reality TV is a small, deeply entangled world. But she has since distanced herself from “Vanderpump Rules” and moved on to Peacock’s annual summer must-watch reality show “Love Island USA.”
The series, in which singles head to a villa in Fiji to participate in steamy challenges and ultimately couple up, had its breakout season in 2024, the same year Madix joined as the host. While Madix only briefly pops in every few episodes to instruct islanders on challenges or monitor re-couplings, her outfits, quips and dance moves are an integral part of the online chatter around the show. She will face off in the reality host category against Kristen Kish of “Top Chef” and a trio of veteran heavy hitters: RuPaul Charles (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”), Alan Cumming (“The Traitors”) and Jeff Probst (“Survivor”).
‘Dancing With the Stars’ returns to the Emmys
The dancing competition show premiered in 2005 and from 2006-16 was a mainstay nominee in the reality competition category. Then the show fell off in terms of both viewers and buzz.
Things started to turn around in 2022, when Conrad Green returned as showrunner after an eight-year break and restructured the show, hiring more Gen Z influencers as the “stars” and utilizing social media, in particular TikTok, to encourage younger viewers to interact with the contest. So far the moves have been successful: The of Season 34 finale in December brought in over nine million viewers, the most since the show’s finale in 2016. And now “Dancing With the Stars” has returned to the Emmy conversation, going against “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” “Survivor,” “Top Chef” and “The Traitors” for top reality competition.
Taylor Swift’s week keeps getting better
Just a few days after Swift presided over a starry wedding in Madison Square Garden, the Emmys gave five nominations to her self-explanatory special, “The Eras Tour: The Final Show.”
Swift has been nominated for an Emmy before — in 2015 she won the award for creative achievement in interactive media for “AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience.” “The Eras Tour,” which was recorded during her Dec. 8, 2024, tour stop in Vancouver and streamed on Disney+, is up for best variety special — the sole nod that went to Swift herself, as producer — and for variety directing, picture editing, sound mixing and technical direction and camerawork for a special.
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